Memorial Day has come and gone, and with it, we have the unofficial start of summer. Many businesses believe that the summer months are slow months to do public relations campaigns. Actually nothing could be further from the truth. The summer is an excellent time to do publicity campaigns and prepare as well for the fall and winter.
Many people know that the summer months are slow news months and believe that means their product or service will get no coverage. Actually the opposite is true. While the summer is a slow news time, it is because many businesses are looking at fall and winter publicity campaigns and not utilizing the summer to gain attention and traction. Contacting the media with a product or service and tying it into the news is a great way during the dog days of summer to gain publicity. Beyond that, it lays the groundwork for obtaining coverage in the busy fall and winter months, when everyone is competing for coverage. Reporters having dealt with you during the summer will be more likely to utilize you in the busier months as well, giving you a leg up on the competition.
Many of the major talk shows such Ellen, Wendy Williams, and Rachael Ray are on hiatus. Yet their producers and bookers are interested in story ideas for the fall when they return to production. Contacting them early in the summer is a smart move. Many of the producers say they make their minds up about upcoming guests for the fall in the early summer months.
If you have a seasonal summer product or service and haven’t already done so, tying your product into summer stories is a great way to get exposure. For example if you are a food company and have a great summer food product, pitching the media on that with story ideas like great summer recipes is perfect for summer publicity.
Finally, the great secret of many publications that businesses want to be mentioned in particularly during the holiday season is that they begin finalizing their holiday editions during the summer months. Now is the time to approach a publication about a great holiday gift or service to be included in the holiday editions that are critical for success.
Yes the summer is a time of vacations and fun, but it can also be a great time for publicity. Enjoy the summer months but maximize them also to achieve critical public relations success.
